Electricity/Internet in Rincon

My advice from living on the island since 2014 and I have lived in cabo rojo, arecibo, Rincon, aguada and Quebradillas is stay away from Rincon.  Most of Rincon has power and water issues.  Internet is another cluster.
You need to get liberty internet as claro and all satellite won't do You justice. 
If the island is hit with another major issue don't expect any power, water and especially internet. We live 1 road off the main highway in a tourist area and we didn't get it back for 7 months.   If you still decide to move to the island you need to make sure liberty internet is intstalled before you sign a cobtract
If you call them they will tell you many times yes they have service there and then you sign a lease liberty comes and then tells you no.
You might want to consider a bigger city if you relay on internet. But its a hit or miss
Not to burst your bubble things on the island are like being in the 1950s.  It's not an easy life to adjust to also.  Rincon ia very ovee priced. Maybe consider aguadilla.

Every time it rains people lose power, water and internet. The worse thing about Rincon is the brown outs which will ruin every appliance you have. Some landlords will allow generator many don't. Thats wht we moves from Rincon. Always water, power issues and the landlord said no generators
To be honest with you its a 3rd world country here.  Many places considered 3rd world country's are more stable with their water, power and internet. Healthcare is another scary situation.  Have you considered any othee countries? Panama? Costa Rica, Mexico etc

Wow. Thanks for the info! Getting the ok for the generator sounds critical or finding a place that already has one. And making sure Liberty Internet can hook up. If those two things pan out, sounds like it's still a pain, but possibly do-able. We're still open to other areas of PR, but preferably not a bigger city. I don't want to move away from a hustle and bustle of one city to go to another one. Traffic is a huge deterrent. Are there other towns on the west coast that are better run - as far as Internet/electricity and water- than Rincón?  We are set on PR, rather than Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, etc.
Thanks for the insights!

I meant like aguadilla.  Its a big city but not like most us cities.  Plus lots of areas aren't inntue city its self.  I would personally recommend isabela.  Most home will come with a transfer switch which you have to bring a generator
I highly recommend a. Whole house over A place that has 2 apartments or a complex
As most complexes won't allow them
They might advertise that there is a generator back up. Which means like a small area of the pool will have it only. Its a trick they use.
Also an important thing would be to make sure you have a cistern. Another thing to consider is that most homes don't have hot water in the kitchen or sinks.  You will have to buy a suicidal shower head that plugs in however these only get warm and not hot.  If you want hot water rent a place that has a heated solar tank
This will save you a lot of money in electricity
Also a thing to look for its gas hookups. So you can cook with gas.  As electricity is prices. Plus easier to use if you don't have power

If you want reliability, get two internet services and a generator. Nothing is perfect. Also use your phone as a modem as a third option. For most people, they just need connectivity, not blazing speed on their backup systems. So Liberty for primary, then Claro for 5 to 50 mega service and finally your phone. A few  long extension cords to bring power where needed and you are all set.

Rey most of the time if the power is down your internet service wont be working as well. If you have satellite it will work
Each area has their own hub near you which provides your service.  Maybe its different on your side of the island

Thanks Rey.  Sounds workable!  Any idea/guess on how much this would run in terms of price?  I appreciate the info!

"I meant like aguadilla.  Its a big city but not like most us cities.  Plus lots of areas aren't inntue city its self.  I would personally recommend isabela.  Most home will come with a transfer switch which you have to bring a generator"

Hi Sandra, thanks for the pointers.  We are looking for a slower paced lifestyle (outside of work).  I'd like to be in a smaller area with a strong community if possible.  Are Aguadilla and Isabella places we should consider for that?  I'd like to be somewhere that does not feel like "America", no gated communities, no clear lines between socioeconomic classes, no giant Walmart right down the street, etc.  I already live with that everyday, and would enjoy living more simply (with less plastic junk)!

Both places you will find that it's part of the hustle

I live and work online next door to Rincón in Aguada and with a few tools, have no issues staying connected 24/7. 

For internet, most places will have service from Liberty or Claro.  Liberty is probably better and what I use, but in our area, it was actually Claro that was restored first after the hurricane.  This will be your primary internet.  For backup, I recommend an AT&T hotspot.  I actually wrote a post on my blog about how to get unlimited data for your hotspot that only costs $34.99 a month.

http://athomeinpuertorico.com/best-deal … ited-data/

As far as electricity, it has been pretty reliable lately but you need to have tools to get you through an outage.  With a little a creativity you can get by without a generator. (we live in a condo and are not allowed to use a generator)  You basically need the following:

- a laptop with good battery life
- a backup battery like this Dell Power Companion
- car chargers for your laptop, backup battery, and hotspot
- and if you want to take it to the next level, a portable solar panel/charger like this MegaSolar 60W

The bottom line is, don't worry.  I know plenty of people besides myself that work remotely here, even in Rincón.

If you have satellite Internet, and a generator, you will always have Internet. I know they offer satellite Internet here but it can be expensive, I have liberty and I live in Vega Baja, very few issues as a matter fact that's all we do for entertainment is stream from the Internet

Thanks David!  You just made my day. I'll check out the link on your site. Great to know!

AT&T internet and Directv  works very well for us.  Better than Liberty that we had prior to Maria   

The suggestion about battery and car charger is good.   😎

Satélite Internet I consider it as a last resort. It stops working when there is heavy clouds and this is PR, heavy clouds happen often. With satélite you would be out of service any time it gets real cloudy or heavy rain as your dish will not be able to see the satélite

It is also a metered system so you have a quota and after that they slow it to modem speed, barely usable. So if you like to stream movies like in Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, you will use up your 30 day quota in 10 days and have lousy service the other 20 days.

davidtx wrote:

I live and work online next door to Rincón in Aguada and with a few tools, have no issues staying connected 24/7. 

For internet, most places will have service from Liberty or Claro.  Liberty is probably better and what I use, but in our area, it was actually Claro that was restored first after the hurricane.  This will be your primary internet.  For backup, I recommend an AT&T hotspot.  I actually wrote a post on my blog about how to get unlimited data for your hotspot that only costs $34.99 a month.

http://athomeinpuertorico.com/best-deal … ited-data/

As far as electricity, it has been pretty reliable lately but you need to have tools to get you through an outage.  With a little a creativity you can get by without a generator. (we live in a condo and are not allowed to use a generator)  You basically need the following:

- a laptop with good battery life
- a backup battery like this Dell Power Companion
- car chargers for your laptop, backup battery, and hotspot
- and if you want to take it to the next level, a portable solar panel/charger like this MegaSolar 60W

The bottom line is, don't worry.  I know plenty of people besides myself that work remotely here, even in Rincón.

Great reply. Really appreciate the insights.  Definitely going to research these items from your blog, hope you have some affiliate links up there!

Lol, this reminded me situation when talking to local about issues - he replied we aren't 3rd world you know. (I washed saying it, but everything is here so 300 years behind civilization. Thought - they are top notch of third world). I don't know what else is then...but oh well, while he was all offended and getting angry (they are very proud and mostly - not everyone) wants to hear how perfect everything here is...just answered I would put it this way - I am not telling you you people here are this or that, Im telling you what happened to me, and you are offended. How do you think I like to be in those shituations?

Back to internet - I really heard about Liberty bis much better, but I never tried it - as Claro made several times appointment with me - just to not show up or even answer text messages....so after 6 months I gave up on my dream having an internet at home. (BTW when you come to sign up for internet - don't forget your social security card with you) they need it 😁

I mean island is beautiful, weather is great, (if you don't focus on hurricanes, earthquakes and such),  things aren't so thighet, restrictive, stressful - like less hectic (that's the positive side of them taking time to do anything), coffee is out of this world and I love salsa. Lets not talk about how are people or how dysfunctional things are here...

Austin-Rincon wrote:

"I meant like aguadilla.  Its a big city but not like most us cities.  Plus lots of areas aren't inntue city its self.  I would personally recommend isabela.  Most home will come with a transfer switch which you have to bring a generator"

Hi Sandra, thanks for the pointers.  We are looking for a slower paced lifestyle (outside of work).  I'd like to be in a smaller area with a strong community if possible. Are Aguadilla and Isabella places we should consider for that?  I'd like to be somewhere that does not feel like "America", no gated communities, no clear lines between socioeconomic classes, no giant Walmart right down the street, etc.  I already live with that everyday, and would enjoy living more simply (with less plastic junk)!

Rincon definetly feels like being in the United States (for us) because there are so many people here from the states. Most Caucasians actually choose Rincon for this reason seeing there is less of a language barrier and a huge expat/transplant community. This makes it a much easier transition for many Caucasians who want to live among their own hence why it's known as, "Gringoland". I should mention also that it is challenging to rent an apartment or buy a house at a reasonable price (inventory is low and rents are usually high) in Rincon.

On the flip side, there are some Caucasians that would never live in Rincon and don't see the appeal because of everything I mentioned above and prefer more of an authentic Puerto Rican environment among locals. In the end it's all about personal choice with what fits where you're most comfortable with. Just felt like you should be forewarned when you mentioned possibly living in Rincon but not wanting to feel like your in the US.

I also work remotely and need a higher download speed of 100 Mbps because I video conference a lot. As someone mentioned above, if the electric is down, which happens often when it rains, you'll need to rely on your cell phone as a hot spot. My family is from a different part of the island and my husband's family is from Rincon which is what brought us here. There are parts of town that constantly have water and electricity issues but fortunately where we live we don't have it as bad as them. We've only lost water once and for two hours and have lost electricity for maybe 2-10 minutes tops.

Working remotely depends on how prepared you can be for it and in my case it has been a learning experience. Although I did find out my backup options beforehand thanks to this forum which was a help. Like you we also didn't want the city life seeing we came from NYC and didn't want to live in another side. However, unfortunately it seems that the best reliable interent service is there.

Hi Rambla. Thank you for the thoughtful reply!  With you having family from the island, is there anywhere that comes to mind as far as a lower-key, less Gringoland type of place on the west coast?  Or any of the coasts?  A place that is more authentic, inhabited by mostly locals, but still has the facilities to be able to work remotely?

We'll have a little time to scout things out when we get there, and I'd love some ideas!  Thank you!

Don't over stress about the issue.  We settled in Hatillo on the NW coast.  We soon made new friends with neighbors and locals. - the Puerto Rican people are very friendly and love to have a good time.  We also met many retired gringos like ourselves in the area that have become good friends.  Some we met through this board. 

We like this part of the island due to rural area, away from the big city traffic, yet still have access to big box shopping and conveniences.   

As others have mentioned, you can also look into Aguada, Aguadilla, and Isabela.

I have a home in Aguadilla and love it there.
Overall the pace of life is slower and more laid back in PR compared to the mainland.

I also like Aguadilla's location in the bay which protects it from some of the stronger weather and currents.

Aguadilla has the benefit of being close to both Isabela and Rincon.  So its easy to explore and enjoy the area.

We have Liberty internet, and have had no problems so far.

In my neighborhood the past year,  there was various water issues , some related to repairing local lines, and others related to repairing the dam.

But the last few months we've had no water/power issues.

Good luck!!